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5.18.2010

My boss told me today that a single blog post should take 20 minutes or less. I have a feeling that if I could learn to follow this rule, I might not take a whole month to formulate a new post, and I might actually gain some readership.

As usual, much is going on in Bethanyland. If I tried to write it all here, it would definitely take more than 20 minutes.

(Actually, the truth is I did try to write all of it here and it took me 40, so I've already failed. Question: are blogs really quality writing if people take 20 minutes to write and click publish? Does the 20 minutes include editing and proofing? Conclustion: I'm not sure I believe in the 20-minute blog.)

So here is my news for today: I wrote an article in my school's quarterly publication about a man, Steve, who passed away in 2004. A musician, Steve was eternally grateful for the tutelage and mentoring he received at our institution, so in the event of his death his parents established a scholarship for music students like Steve. It went to press a week ago and landed on our readers' doorsteps just yesterday.

This morning I log in for my morning dose of Facebook to find an incredibly uplifting message:

"Bethany, my wife is Steve's niece. Steve's mother called my wife as soon as she saw the article - it made her cry. Thank you so much!"

Occasionally I get the unavoidable reminder: THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE MEANT TO DO. And it's everything I needed but didn't expect.

Right now, my career is not where I imagined it would be 5 years ago. Let's face it, 5 years ago, everything I knew about being a "real writer" I learned from T.V. Don't hate me - it's the generation I grew up in. Blame my parents. (Just kidding mom!)

I certainly didn't think it would land me in the copywriting, social media business (did that phrase exist 5 years ago?!)

But, if what I'm doing right now means that every few months or so I write something that can bring joy, gratitude, and peace to someone's heart, then I am exactly where I need to be until God gives me a new opportunity.